I know it's a pretty bold statement, and there are lots of great cruise directors out there, but Todd Wittmer really takes the cake. I've been on princess,holland america,royal carribean,carnival and norwegian for a total of 8 cruises.

The cruise with Todd Wittmer on the Carnival Conquest in early May of 2005 was the best time I ever had on a ship, and the Conquest is a good ship, but not the best ever. Yet, with Todd and his natural sense for flair, comedic talent, and charisma, he single-handedly made the whole ship better and nobody else comes close.

I'm a film director who was so inspired by Todd's performance throughout the whole week, that I wanted to become a cruise director too and want to use him in films. He would be an instant star.

I still can't get over how great he was 5 years ago and want to find the ship he's on and go again despite the location.

I think that cruise was memorable for Todd too as his birthday was that week, I believe it's May 9, and the crew and him put on an original tongue-in-cheek show that I've never seen before and something embarrassing happened to him and the way the audience responded and the way he played through it (he was genuinely embarrassed, then proceeded to play the role of the fool) was a spectacle not to be missed.

Carnival, no offense to John Heald at all, he's really good and the other cruise directors are fine, but Todd Wittmer really takes it all. You won't find anyone better and don't be surprised if he needs some time off to star in my next flick.

With all due respect to the OP, I must ask Dave: have you ever sailed with John Heald? I have not sailed with either one of them but in order to make a choice I would have to do a cruise with each one. No flaming now :-) I am just stating a personal opinion.

Tood is a good CD and is a long time serving CD on Carnival. He is good looking, can sing, and is sort of funny, but I rarely saw him when I was on the Freedom. He was around when needed and that was about it. James, the ACD at the time (he was the ACD on the Liberty Sept 08) was infinitely more funny and he got away with a hell of a lot cuz many don't understand Brit humor. Steve Kniseley to me was better and Chris Jefferson was great--he is short, cute, and most certainly gets away with a lot more with his British humor.

I certainly hope some of the social staff get noticed cuz some of them are worthy of the CD role. James from the Liberty/Freedom, and Matt/Danny from the Valor are worthy candidates to promote!! Josh, aka Big Sexy, did get promoted and rightfully so, he was awesome on the Victory!

I guess everyone is entitled to an opionion, so here is mine. I have sailed with both Todd and John Heald. Todd was on the Conquest from Galveston (7 days) and the Dream from Rome Italy (12 days), while John was on the Freedom from Rome Italy (12 days). My DH and I much preferred John over Todd and (here goes my opinion) neither of us cared for Todd at all. In fact he is probably our least fave CD of all. We really liked Big Tex though. I don't know which ship he is currently on, but we hope to sail with him again one day.

Tex is definately the cutest....
Jorge is the funniest...
Todd has the best memory....(long story)
Risa is the most compassionate....

We just sailed with John last month and he was ok....

but we have also cruised with the truly greatest like Peter Gibbs and Dave Armour....

__________________COMPLETES THE FLEET

If it is Carnival and it floats....we have sailed it!

Hubby ... DIAMOND (every ship except the Carnivale)
Me ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale)
20 year old son ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale...he is the only DOUBLE Milestone under the age of 21)
24 year old son ... DIAMOND

I guess everyone is entitled to an opionion, so here is mine. I have sailed with both Todd and John Heald. Todd was on the Conquest from Galveston (7 days) and the Dream from Rome Italy (12 days), while John was on the Freedom from Rome Italy (12 days). My DH and I much preferred John over Todd and (here goes my opinion) neither of us cared for Todd at all. In fact he is probably our least fave CD of all. We really liked Big Tex though. I don't know which ship he is currently on, but we hope to sail with him again one day.

Tex is coming to the Triumph later this year. We are sailing on Oct 2nd (a B2B)and Noonan will be our CD. Tex will be our CD on the Oct 7th.

__________________COMPLETES THE FLEET

If it is Carnival and it floats....we have sailed it!

Hubby ... DIAMOND (every ship except the Carnivale)
Me ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale)
20 year old son ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale...he is the only DOUBLE Milestone under the age of 21)
24 year old son ... DIAMOND

Thanks for the update on Big Tex. Since we are only a couple of hours from NOLA we have sailed from there several times, so maybe we will have the opportunity to sail with him again. BTW, he really isn't "Big" Tex anymore. He lost a ton of weight and looks even more fantastic!

Hubby ... DIAMOND (every ship except the Carnivale)
Me ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale)
20 year old son ... DIAMOND (every ship starting with the Tropicale...he is the only DOUBLE Milestone under the age of 21)
24 year old son ... DIAMOND